Abundant Life Without Fear - Episode 159 - Health, Hope & Inspiration : City of Hope®

Abundant Life Without Fear – Episode 159

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Featuring: Kevin Barnes

Published: April 13, 2019

The hosts of Health, Hope & Inspiration chat with cancer patient Kevin Barnes, whose unique journey led him to the realization that it is possible to live with cancer and have stronger faith at the same time.

Show Notes:

Kevin Barnes will proudly tell you he’s half the man he once was, in spite of being diagnosed with esophageal cancer. “I’m half the man physically and twice the man spiritually now because of this journey.” Prior to the diagnosis, Kevin was severely overweight and having trouble swallowing. “I was 330 pounds—anything that prevented me from eating caught my attention.” Immediately, he went for an endoscopy and was put on a liquid diet. Undeterred, he started researching and asking questions. “Cancer is not in my family,” he says. “So I came [to CTCA].”

Kevin admits the diagnosis brought him to a spiritual crossroads. “I had to really dig into my faith and say, ‘If God’s in control, then He’s allowed this for a purpose.’ And I’ve always taught that you’re going to go through circumstances. You’re going to go through trials in life.’” Kevin says he learned an additional lesson in the midst of his cancer journey. “There are two different paths you can take. There’s one that’s going to be of hope and moving forward and fighting, and there’s another one of just giving up.”

Kevin discovered he had an amazing support team to help him fight his battle on every possible level. He also relied heavily on the Scriptures to get him through. “I lived through the Psalms through this whole experience, because it is nothing more than people going through tough times, but then turning their eyes off of what they’re going through and back to that solid hope that’s not going to change.”

Quotes:

“I had to come to the point of saying, ‘Is [my faith] real or not?’ I had to make a commitment to say, ‘I go to church. I read my Bible. I pray. I serve and everything. Is this real or not?’”
“If God’s in control, everything good and bad has to go through His hands. And so if this is allowed in my life, my faith was, ‘There’s two things — How am I going to glorify God in this?’ and ‘What am I going to learn?’ There’s always something to learn.”
“The actual healing of my body—it was a day-by-day fight. I’m not saying every day was a great day. But I had to take each day and really just say, ‘What is it going take to get through this?’”
“I had to come to the point that God may be calling me home. And I had to get to a point to be okay with that. As Paul said, ‘If you leave me here, that’s okay. If you take me, that’s okay.’ And I had to come to that point.”

Resources:

CLICK HERE to download this week’s resource: “Managing the Cost of Cancer Care”

Learn More:
CTCA | Chicago, IL